Chapter Text
The air smelled like sweat, blood, and desperation.
Amity had the Golden Guard pinned, razor-sharp abomination clay poised tensely under his chin, his eye closed in a haphazard flinch. She didn’t want to fight him-- after all, he was clearly struggling, his brow laced with heavy sweat, a few shallow cuts sprinkling across his face. She almost felt like laughing, Emperor Belos’ “teen prodigy” wasn’t able to best a fourteen-year-old? The Golden Guard commanded respect, his posters were menacing, and Amity’s parents always described him as someone to be feared.
And yet…
He couldn’t be more than a year or so older than Amity herself, he’d probably be in the same class as Edric and Emira had he gone to Hexside. Here, pinned under her spear and covered in dirt, the Golden Guard looked less like a threat or a prodigy, and more like a desperate child. She knew from experience how that felt.
“Listen, you’re strong, and I’m tired,” The other teenager huffed his words, pausing to take large breaths in between, “If this continues, you’ll probably escape.”
Amity eyed him warily, not letting up on her chokehold. She could sense a ‘but’ coming.
“But here’s the thing-” There it was. “We know where to find you, and your human.” He said the word like it tasted foul.
She couldn’t help but let out a small gasp at that, sure, coming after her was one thing, but Luz? Her Luz? That was unacceptable. Her grip on the key tightened.
“So just,” The Guard huffed again, still trying to catch his breath. “Hand over the key.”
For one, split-second, Amity considered it. She could crack the glass eye, let the Titan blood run over her palm, and hand it over, giving him the key but not the blood it needs to work. Her fingers tightened, and she could feel the pressure begin to crack the fragile glass beneath her palm. She couldn’t lose Luz. Not yet, and not ever. Not when she worked so hard to earn her title as girlfriend, and not when Luz needed her most. But, when her wide eyes stared into the frantic, tired eyes of the teenager threatening her, she wondered what said girlfriend would do.
Luz was impulsive, chaotic, rarely thought things through, and always helped others. Even when they didn’t want it. That was one of her best features. Luz was unapologetically kind, and if anyone needed kindness now, it was the Golden Guard.
Amity loosened her grip on the key.
“No.” She smiled coyly, retracting her abomination blade from the other’s face.
“What?” The Guard squawked, face red and pinched like a toddler who was being told ‘no’ for the first time.
“You heard me. No. N-O. You can’t have it.”
“I know how to spell ‘no’!” Amity chuckled at the Guard’s flustered expression. “And—you can’t say no to me! I’m the Emperor’s right-hand man, I need that key and you’re going to give it to me, or I’m going to march right back to the Coven and tell them you’re guilty of treason.”
“Mm.” Amity hummed, placing her hand, and the key, snugly in her coat pocket. “No, you’re not.”
The Golden Guard made another squeal of frustration. Thick eyebrows furrowing in anger as he threw his arms at Amity, discarding his staff in the process. The teen used this opportunity to flush out her bottle of abomination goo, re-trapping the Guard in a hardened bound of clay. She glared at him, less in a malicious way and more as a warning to behave—much like the looks she gave trouble-making children at the library.
“You’re going to kill me.” He said it so matter-of-factly Amity felt a brief wave of nausea, that this person, this teenager, thought she was capable of murder. Sure, she made threats often enough, but they were always hollow. She wasn’t a killer.
But he didn’t know that.
“Gross,” she joked, sticking her tongue out briefly, “Too messy.”
Alright, so maybe she wasn’t a killer, but she was allowed to mess with him.
“You’re right though,” Amity said, pausing to gauge the Guard’s reaction. “I could definitely kick your butt if I wanted to, and believe me, I want to.”
He paled. “But,” she continued, “Someone special made me realize being kind is always the better solution. So, here’s the deal; you’re coming with me, telling me what the emperor has planned, showing Luz how to the human portal works, and for Titan’s sake you are going to take a nap.”
“…What.”
Amity smiled at the Guard’s bewildered expression, “I told you—you don’t have to stay with people that make you think you have to be useful to deserve good things.”
The other teen’s expression softened, before hardening back to the frantic one he wore earlier. “You can’t do this; you’re kidnapping a Coven Official—this—this is treason—you’re committing treason.”
With a snap of her fingers, Amity freed him of the abomination restraints.
“It’s not kidnapping, it’s a third option.” She picked his discarded staff off the ground, smiling softly at the cardinal atop it. “You said it yourself, you can’t go back to the Coven empty handed, and you can’t beat me. So, the way I see it, you have three options; go back to the Emperor’s Coven and face whatever consequences lie there, you can go back to digging that grave you were so eager to lie in, or you can come with me.”
The Guard paused, looking between Amity and the cardinal palisman who was now awake, and chirping eagerly.
“Grave it is!” He turned on his heels, waving a two-finger goodbye as he walked right back to the pit he was digging no more than five minutes earlier.
Amity let out a muffled screech—of all the no-good, indifferent, jerk-wad, scum eating, Titan sniffing, stubborn—and dragged him right back to her side with the same abomination spell.
“Blight.” He greeted; eyes narrowed.
“Golden Guard.” She mimicked, rubbing her temples with frustration.
“What happened to it being my choice?” The Guard taunted, fingers circling like he was itching to highlight his point with hand movements and would be doing so had his hands not been tied up.
“I didn’t think you’d actually choose the dying option!”
He shrugged in response, and Amity wished for possibly the millionth time that day she could pick him up by his stupid cape and shake him until he behaved. Taking a deep breath, she pulled him closer, using the abomination spell to keep him hovering a few inches off the ground.
“You are no longer getting a choice in this. C’mon King, let’s go find Eda.”
The little demon, who had been unusually quiet up until this point, hopped on Amity’s shoulder, blowing raspberries at the incapacitated guard.
Together, the three of them made their way back out the mouth of the cave, following the half-buried mine shaft back to where Eda was last seen fighting off Kikimora’s goons. The Owl Lady was in her harpy form, large wings echoing through the cavern with each heavy flap. She didn’t look to be injured, and she certainly wasn’t in a rush to get to the dried-up lake, so Amity figured Eda had managed to win the fight against the Emperor’s Coven.
“Eda!” King squealed, jumping from Amity’s shoulder into the harpy’s arms.
The older witch looked thrilled to see they were both okay, pulling King close to her chest and ruffling Amity’s hair.
“You get the goods, kid?” She asked, flashing a gold-toothed grin.
Amity sighed, frustrated. “The lake is drained, there’s nothing for Luz.”
Eda gave the teen a sympathetic look, “I’m sure they’ll understand. Afterall, there’s nothing we can do about some dumb, dried-up lake.”
The reassurance she wasn’t a complete failure of a girlfriend made a small smile form on Amity’s lips. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“So,” The Owl Lady cracked her neck, flexing her wings slightly to let them relax. “You gonna tell me why Goldie here is still trapped in an abomination burrito?”
---
Luz was worried out of her mind. Amity, Eda, and King had left for Eclipse Lake over an hour ago and she hadn’t heard anything from them since. She tried warning them about the Fools’ Blood, but Amity hadn’t responded to any of her texts. Oh Titan, what if they died? What if Amity got hurt? What if her girlfriend wasn’t awesome enough to fight the Emperor’s Coven—no, that was silly. Amity was the most awesome at fighting, no way would she get beat by those dumb Steve’s. Even still, Gus and Willow were practically gluing Luz to the couch to prevent them from running right out the door to help.
“We’re home!” Eda’s familiar voice called out, and a wave of relief ran over Luz.
She jumped to their feet immediately, running to Amity the second she stepped through the door.
“I’m so glad my awesome girlfriend is okay!” They happily yelled, hugging Amity’s thin form tightly. The other teen blushed profusely, clearly surprised at the contact but happy to have it, nonetheless. She hugged back, face red and content.
“I’m glad you’re okay too, Luz,” Amity smiled softly, nestling her head on their shoulder. “I, um, didn’t get any blood.”
Luz pulled away to hold her girlfriend’s face. “It’s okay, really, I’m just glad everyone’s safe.”
The two leaned their foreheads together, each softly smiling. Luz planted a small kiss on Amity’s cheek, mimicking the one she gave them only a week earlier.
“No, please, don’t stop on my account,” A familiar, and incredibly sarcastic voice rang out from behind the two.
“Golden—Hunter?” Luz stared, wide eyed at the teen tied up in the doorway.
“Thanks for gracing me with your attention, human.”
Luz ignored the attempt to rile her up, instead turning their attention back to a sheepish looking Amity.
“Why is he here?” She whispered, though the effort was pointless as they were standing mere feet from the person she was whispering about.
“I don’t like it either,” Amity whispered back, “But Luz—he knows about the portals, he has answers, and—well, I’ll be honest he probably needs some kind of help after how hard I pummeled him at the lake. I think I may have broken his nose.”
“You broke his nose?” Luz couldn’t help but raise their voice into the realm of whisper-yelling.
“It’s not broken,” Hunter interjected, not caring to keep up the façade that he couldn’t hear them. “It’s lightly fractured, if anything.”
“Kid that sounds like doctor-speak for broken.” Eda piped up this time, leaning on the stubborn teenager. He attempted to swat her away, appearing to momentarily forget he was still held tight in abomination. The movement caused him to topple, falling back onto the floor, and landing on his side.
The teenager loudly huffed, face bright red. Luz couldn’t help but laugh at the expression, reminiscent of the face he made at her back in Latissa when they wouldn’t give his staff back. He was a man of many faces. Mostly grumpy ones.
King was less subtle about his laughing, very clearly pointing and cackling at the fallen teenager.
Amity seemed to be the only one not finding amusement in Hunter’s suffering, asking Eda to guard the door while she commanded the abomination clay to release him.
Hunter quickly got to his feet, entering a rigid stance that was probably supposed to intimidate them. His fists were clenched, feet slightly spread in a way that told Luz he was ready to throw a punch the second someone got too close. Luz felt a little bad about that, he was clearly exhausted—if those eyebags were anything to go off—suffering from a definitely broken nose, drenched in purple gunk, and his usually slicked back hair was in tangles, long strands falling into his eyes. They doubted he’d actually be able to put up much of a fight at the moment.
“Hunter, we don’t want to fight you.” Luz tried her best to reassure the older teen.
He scoffed, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “I highly doubt that. What other reason would you have for kidnaping a Coven Official? Torture? Bargaining chip? Ransom? I’ll have you know I was trained by Emperor Belos himself to withstand all kinds of—what are you doing.”
While Hunter was monologuing, Luz had gotten close enough to wrap their arms gently around him, face tucked into the harsh material of his stolen uniform. “Hugging you.”
“I—what is this? Release me this instant, human. I’m not falling for your sneaky wild magic tricks.”
The human in question laughed slightly, “It’s not a trick! It’s a hug. You looked like you needed one.”
“I don’t need anything.” He snarled, pulling himself away from Luz’s arms.
“Except a nap,” Amity interjected, “and some new clothes, and a shower. Dear Titan, abomination is not a good replacement for deodorant.” She pinched her nose, moving both her own and Hunter’s staff into the crook of her elbow so she could use her other hand to swat at invisible smell waves.
Hunter glared at them both.
“C’mon twerp, let’s get you cleaned up.” Eda used her talons to pick up the boy like he was nothing, though Luz couldn’t imagine he was that heavy with how scrawny he looked—if her Mami was here he’d be force fed about twelve servings of paella.
Their kidnappee shrieked at a volume Luz previously thought only dogs could hear, swatting at Eda as she carried him upstairs and toward the bathroom.
---
Hunter hated this.
He hated being babied by a bunch of convicts. He hated that he was being forced from his home, and into this house of wild magic wielding traitors. He hated that he failed his uncle again, and he hated whatever that thing Luz did to him was.
The Guard wanted nothing more than to smash through the bathroom window and run right back to Belos, maybe he could sneak into his room and pretend he was home the whole time. Except…Kikimora had seen him, she’d seen him with the Owl Lady and her dumb little accomplices. There was no way he’d get back to the Coven without some sort of punishment.
He didn’t think he could take anymore injuries today.
As much as Hunter hated to admit it, and he was hating a lot of things these days, the purple Blight girl was right—he had no other options. Well, that and his nose was definitely broken, but he’d rather die than admit she was right twice.
The Owl Lady banged on the bathroom door, and Hunter startled. “Hey hostage!” She yelled through the wood, voice still echoing from her harpy makeover, “I don’t hear any showering going on in there.”
Hunter grumbled, turning on the shower and sitting right in the tub. He didn’t bother undressing; this was a temporary situation to give himself time to think of a plan. Afterall, he couldn’t stay in the Owl House, could he?
He pulled his knees to his chest, twiddling with his gloved fingers while the warm shower water pelted against his skin. If he did leave, where was he going to go? And what about that demon worm guarding the house—he’d heard stories from other Coven officials about what it did to trespassers.
Hunter shivered at the thought, he really didn’t want to be eaten. Especially not by a demon-bird-worm.
So what options were left? Maybe he could sneak out while everyone was asleep? Did the Owl Lady sleep? He knew Lilith did, but Lilith was respectable, a normal witch. A Coven Leader. At least, she was, before she betrayed her coven and Belos had him take over.
Oh Titan, he was going to be replaced.
The thought entered Hunter’s head before he could stop it, pushing out any thoughts of escape or plans to get revenge and taking over his brain. The young witch felt his breath hitch, and in response he pushed back his ears frantically, as if willing himself not to cry. He was the Golden Guard, head of the Emperor’s Coven, he was a highly trained soldier and a magic prodigy, crap, he was almost an adult, he didn’t cry.
None of those things stopped the tears from actually coming.
He hated crying. It felt ugly, and rough, and made him feel like a little whiny child. Uncle never approved of childish reactions—temper tantrums, crying, the likes—those weren’t for someone of Hunter’s status. He wasn’t allowed to cry. Not when he was upset, not when he was injured, or tired, or waking up from the fifth nightmare of the week. Not when there were more important things to do.
Still, hot tears poured down his cheeks, stinging the open cuts on his face and mixing with the water from the shower. At least the faucet noise was enough to cover up the sound of his pathetic moment of weakness.
Hunter wiped his face, getting stray abomination gunk off his face in the process. Disgusting.
The teenager turned to face the water, careful not to slip as he readjusted his footing in the tub. Steam swirled in his face, the heat feeling nice against his sore skin, and he sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. It had to be long enough now to satisfy the Owl Lady, and although he didn’t really shower, he didn’t plan to stay long. He could have a proper shower when he was back home.
If uncle would have him.
The thought made his chest hurt, but Hunter pushed it away, turning off the faucet and stepping out of the combination tub-shower.
The second his soaked through boots made contact with slick bathroom tile, he slipped backwards. He grabbed the nearest object, hoping it would be enough to prevent him from falling and cracking his skull open. His hand clenched on thick, purple fabric, and within seconds the shower curtain fell with him. A loud crash echoed through the bathroom, causing the teenage to wince. There was no way he wasn’t getting scolded about the noise. Hunter was trapped in a tangled heap of wet fabric, sprawled out in the tub of the Owl Lady’s bathroom, head pounding and limbs aching. The gaudy floral print that entrapped him smelt like old lady perfume and human, and he despised the idea that he would come away smelling similar.
As he angrily tore off pieces of the accursed curtain, a soft, but urgent knock sounded from the other side of the bathroom door.
“Hunter? Was that you?” It was the human, because of course she’d be nosey enough to see if he broke something in their home.
He didn’t respond to her question, instead choosing to scowl at the door, not that the human could see. Or maybe they could, he wasn’t some sort of human expert. Did they have the ability to see through objects? He crossed his arms tightly over his chest, Titan, he hoped not.
“Are you alright in there?” The human was awfully persistent, wasn’t she?
“Fine,” he grumbled, finally managing to get to his feet without slipping.
“…Okay,” they paused, “Do you need a change of clothes? You looked pretty roughed up earlier, and Eda has tons of spare human pajamas if you need anything.”
“I’m fine, human.” He made the point of glaring.
“It’s Luz.”
Hunter could hear her footsteps echo through the wooden walls as they left him alone once again. He sighed, staring at his boots before deciding to kick them off. Not because it was the human—Luz’s—idea. He just wanted to avoid wet socks. Sure. That was the reason.
Still, when he opened the door just enough to see that Luz had left him a small pile of clean clothes, he couldn’t help the soft, little smile that crept up his face.
---
Amity had told Luz that Hunter has some serious issues, but she’d never actually specified what was wrong. King didn’t seem to want to talk about it either, and Eda was just as in the dark as Luz themself. The only thing her awesome girlfriend had said before insisting she had to get home before her mother realized how late it had gotten, was to make sure the Golden Guard got some sleep.
And by Titan was Luz going to listen to her girlfriend. She was going to make that sad, white boy sleep so hard. He was going to get the nap of his life, even if he didn’t want it. She even gave him Eda’s most comfortable pajama shirt—the big, baggy, dark brown one that said ‘DON’T MESS WITH A SINGLE MOM WHO LOVES CORGIS AND WAS BORN IN JULY’ in black bubble font. They even threw in a pair of her old bunny pajama pants, because even though Hunter was taller than her by a good five inches, he was skinny enough to fit in their clothes. Besides, their bunny pants were probably the third softest thing in the Owl House, and who could say no to bunnies?
Oh crap—her tea.
Luz panicked at the more-than-normal amount of bubbling coming from the pot on the stove, grabbing a nearby spoon to stir the mixture until it began to settle. It smelled amazing, but Luz knew better than to give into temptation and taste-test, these were sleeping nettles they were messing with. Sure, she didn’t feel great about what was essentially drugging Hunter when they were supposed to be taking care of him, but with the way things were going she doubted he’d trust them enough to get into bed in the first place.
Lil Rascal hopped onto the edge of her spoon, eyeing the tea cautiously, before turning their attention back to Luz and giving a small chirp of approval.
Good to know someone thought she was doing the right thing.
Speaking of which, Luz was surprised to see the little cardinal again, and with Hunter as their witch, nonetheless. They thought he was powerless, unable to do traditional magic—like her. But Amity talked as if he did a pretty good job of holding his own in their fight together, and Luz hadn’t seen heads or tails of his artificial staff.
Careful not to spill the hot tea, Luz poured a mug of the brew.
“What’s that for?” Luz nearly jumped out of their skin at the sudden presence directly behind her.
“¡Ay Dios mio!” She yelped, instinctually spinning around to whack their assailant with the wooden spoon still clutched tightly in her palm.
“Ow.” Hunter flatly spoke, as if more out of instinct than actual pain. Luz still had the spoon pressed against his forehead.
“Oh! Hunter, I’m so sorry, you just startled me and I didn’t realize you were done showering already, you made like, zero noise getting down here—how did you avoid the squeaky stairs—oh my Titan you’re wearing the pajamas I left you!”
The teen rambled excitably, finally putting down the spoon to flap her hands at his new look.
“What are you doing with your hands?”
“This—oh! It’s a stim, you know, when you get really happy or excited and it just comes out—”
“What are you making?” Hunter interrupted them, seemingly not actually caring about what stimming was. Rude.
“It’s tea,” Luz handed the still-warm mug to the boy in front of her, “It’s to help you sleep tonight. Eda usually has trouble, so we always have a stash of sleeping nettles on hand.”
“You’re trying to poison me.” Like most of his other statements, Hunter said it so matter-of-factly Luz briefly questioned if maybe she was trying to poison him. They shook the thought from their head, that was ridiculous, she was trying to help the Golden Guard, not kill him. They were frenemies, after all.
“Drink your tea, sad boy.” Luz shoved the mug further into Hunter’s hands and pushed past him, making her way to the living room couch.
Lil Rascal hopped from the stove to Hunter’s shoulder, tweeting at him quietly, as if encouraging him to give the tea a chance. Cautiously, the boy sniffed it, as if testing to see if it really was poison, before taking the smallest sip.
“Do you know what a…corgi is?” He whispered to the small bird.
Luz softly smiled; she had a lot to work ahead of her if he was ever gonna trust them.